WHS swimmers finish strong in Class A State Swimming and Diving Championships

By Matt Pascarella

The Windham High swim team competed in the Maine Girls Class A State Swimming and Diving Championships against schools from all over Maine at Bowdoin College in Brunswick on Monday, Feb. 20 and WHS ended the season with a solid 12th place finish.

Windham junior Riley Small shows her speed through the
water at Bowdoin College in Brunswick during the Maine
Class A State Swimming and Diving Championships on
Monday, Feb. 20. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 
 

Windham had several swimmers who medaled by finishing in the top eight during the events.

“With this type of a meet all the work is done – this is showtime,” said Windham swim coach Peter Small. “They’ve worked so hard ... now it’s time to, for lack of a better word, celebrate, just swim – race. I think we were kind of nervous at the beginning, it took us a little bit to get into it.”

Small said that in a lot of the first swims there wasn’t that fire in the belly, but as the meet progressed the team found it and swam really well.

Windham sophomore Sarah Inman finished fifth in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:45.14 time. She also finished eighth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:27.67.

Inman said she wanted to do her best and prove to herself what she can do. She medaled four times and said the team did great today. They were focused and tried not to overthink the events. The day went great.

Windham senior Hannah Heanssler finished eighth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.99 seconds. She also finished 14th in the 100-breaststroke with a 1:18.06 time.

“I’m proud of everyone, I’m proud of myself,” said Heanssler. “We all have worked so hard this season, the way we swam and executed today was really good. We all put everything we had into it, and we all fought with grit and swam really well.”

Heanssler said some highlights of the day were continuing to get their best times, swimming well with each other and everyone racing hard.

Windham freshman Martina Jefferson finished 19th in the backstroke with a time of 1:15.22.

In the 400-freestyle relay, Windham finished fifth with a time of 4:06.46. This team was made up of Inman, sophomore Morgan Farley, Heanssler and junior Grace Theriault.

Theriault finished 18th in the 200 with a 2:18.66 time.

Theriault said team spirits were high and Windham really showed what they are capable of. She thought the team did great altogether.

In the 200-freestyle relay of Heanssler, Theriault, Inman and senior Reagan McDougall, Windham finished with a time of 1:54.09 in seventh place.

Windham’s relay team of Jefferson, Farley, McDougall and junior Riley Small finished with a time of 2:20.10 in the 200 medley-relay, in 15th place.

While no boys on the team qualified for states, during southwesterns at Cape Elizabeth on Saturday, Feb. 11, Windham sophomore CK Kennedy finished 10th in the 50-yard freestyle with a 28.46 time. In the same event, McDougall finished 13th with a time of 30.18. McDougall finished sixth in the 500 with a time of 7:00.58. <